Shrimp Remoulade with Hearts of Palm and Avocado

Aug 8, 2009 by

Stock palm treeHearts of palm, an ingredient more common in France than in the U.S., are the soft inner core of the young shoots of various kinds of palm tree, including the coconut palm.  They are interesting little nibbles. It’s something to talk about at the table with kids and a great way to introduce an intriguing and unusual new veggie.  I made this salad with twice the amount of hearts of palm the original recipe called for, and my daughter, who wasn’t familiar with them before, asked if there were any more of them after we finished the last of the leftovers. This fresh little salad was a big hit with us.

Another great thing about it is that kids can build their own salads,  choosing…

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Strategies for Eating Mindlessly / Strategies for More Mindful Eating

Aug 3, 2009 by

Stock family eating 2

Eleven Strategies of Mindless Eating:

· Make food look like something else, a face, or a tiny airplane, or a rabbit, for example.

· Distract kids from the food itself, making eating a game so kids won’t think about the fact they’re eating.

· Make food and eating a battle ground of wills.

· Connect eating to punishment or reward.

· Tell kids to clean their plates.

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Eating Mindfully: How to keep kids from getting fat by turning on to better food

Jul 22, 2009 by

Stock kid gourmet American parents today have just two main choices today: go gourmet or go unhealthy. You might be both, but you pretty much have to be one or the other.

Feeding kids is not for the faint of heart or uncommitted today.

If we home cooks serve our families foods that are healthy but that have nothing else to offer, we are going to fail. Healthy foods have to be as engaging as the tastily manipulated and temptingly marketed junk food in today’s battlefield for our tastes. We have to beat our opponents at their own game.

Processed foods today are engineered with salt, fat and sugar to be as seductive and addictive as possible, what food…

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Good Egg/Bad Egg?

Jul 14, 2009 by

Giving up eggs because of the fat in them is like leaving a good husband because he won’t let you get the plastic surgery or go gambling in Vegas, and using that as an excuse to run away with the more seductive, gun-toting gangster boyfriend.

Eggs played a limited but complementary and valuable role in the original human diet, which every human was eating up till about 10,000 years ago. This ideal diet provided for all nutritional needs.  This most basic, complete and primal diet, the first…

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Do-It-Yourself Thai Rice Soup for kids

Jul 12, 2009 by

Stock Thai soup bowl This tasty and unusual soup, called “rice soup” or “kao dom,” is a super simple Thai recipe that’s long been a favorite of our kids. This is the kind of meal that children especially enjoy: they can pick and choose among the condiments and make their own mix in their soup bowls, experimenting with different flavors and combinations. I especially like the ginger, green onions, fried onions and cilantro. The red pepper flakes are very spicy; just a few in a bowl of soup is enough for me.

8 C chicken stock

1 C (or more) raw ground turkey, venison or pork

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